


The Black Knight

by sarupetto



Category: Justice League (2017), Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Bat Brothers, Bat Family, Batcave, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Superpowers, Wayne Manor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-04 05:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13357521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarupetto/pseuds/sarupetto
Summary: They say with great power comes great responsibility. But, what comes of it when your power is of destructive type?Luena Stellar was normal young 20 years old woman. What happens when she starts to hang around the Justice League members? Why is it that her life changes just because she hangs around superheroes?...Notes: Please be noted that the writer is just making the story up as it goes. There is no concrete outline or pre-planned ideas. So, it is unknown how long this would be and the updates would also be flexible.





	1. Chapter 1

Justice League has been a part of Luena's life what with Barry Allen, the Flash, being her new friend. It was a funny story really. Every time it came to her, she would chuckle and shake her head in disbelief at the childishness of the Justice League members.

It was when Barry and Clark had their running competition. Barry, always the energetic and excitable man he is, had challenged Superman for the third time and this time, from a countryside in between Metropolis and Central City to a forest in Asia.

They had just arrived at the forest and like their first and second race, Superman had won, though he just barely almost won, like always. However, before Superman could comfort a pouty Barry, he had to fly away for a natural disaster rescue, leaving Barry stunned and in disbelief.

Luena still remembers vividly how Barry had snatched his mask off, still heaving as he shouted, "Did he just bail?!"

Completely amused at the time, she had snorted at that loudly, surprising Barry to stumble on his feet before turning to her, eyes wide and looking like a deer caught in headlight.

"Uh, your mask?" she had said while pointing to her face.

Barry, sputtering, put his mask back on and fled in a blink. Luena had laughed at that and then had continued her trail along the forest, knowing that it was a one-time occurrence.

Then, when her holiday had finished, she went back to her workplace, Daily Planet and had let her works pushed the event to the back of her mind.

Well, until he met Barry again in a cafe in front of Daily Planet during one of her lunch breaks. Barry, shocked, had spilled his coffee and Luena, feeling bad at that, had bought the man another one. After that, they had met a few times whenever Barry come to the Metropolis and stopped by the cafe or when he has League issue. 

They have been friends since then and Barry had even introduced her to the other League members when they had all gathered at the cafe one night after fighting a small robot attack that evening. They were all wearing suits of course and she would have been happy with that.

Seriously, she is. But of course, of course things just would not stay the way they are when you have contact with the League and now Luena is in dilemma.

Luena stares at the army of men equipped with masks and guns and the hostages huddling close around her in the bank. They are all whimpering and holding each other despite being strangers, scared to death with the unexpected robbery, as Luena should also be.

However, being a single child who had to do everything when her parents were too busy to support their little family and being able to do everything she put her mind to, Luena has grown as a strong, independent, intelligent and a no-nonsense woman. 

Admittedly, a young 20 year old, but wisdom and courage are never related to a person's age. She had seen things normal people would never usually see and had learned from all of them.

So, instead of cowering, she is actually thinking on how to better resolve this situation discreetly and inconspicuously.

First and foremost, the bank is in the suburban area. She had come back to her hometown, Willowfall to visit her parents. She had then visited the bank to deposit her money for her parents when suddenly the men came in and gunned the area.

Second, she has no way to contact people for outside help. She looks at her handbag, squashed in a pile with the others' in front of where they are huddled against a wall and grumbled silently.

Third, the League will hardly be alerted as a few minutes before the robbery, there were news of criminals' joint-attack at Gotham, Metropolis and Central City. Even though Willowfall is suburban, it is still quite a ways from the big city.

Sure, the police is surrounding the place, but looking at the matching tattoo that is probably the group's symbol and from the way they manage the attack, she hardly thinks that they are just an ordinary criminal organization.

She frowns. No, in fact, this might even be related to the attacks in-

Suddenly, a phone rings, blaring its ringtone loudly. Luena tenses as everyone looks at the bag pile and waits until it stops. Luena almost sighs when it suddenly rings again and again and again before one of the men shoots at the pile in rage. The ringing stops before it flares again.

"Alright, that's it! Whose phone is that?!" One of the men shouts, pointing his gun at the hostages.

Luena inwardly sighs. The man shouts again, shooting upwards once before pointing it back to the hostages. Acting like she is scared, Luena puts up a trembling hand and stutters.

"M-mine."

"Well, pick up that damn phone and put it on a speaker!"

Luena scrambles towards the pile and pretends to search for her phone. As soon as she gets a hold of the thing, she manages to push the button on it before she takes out her phone and puts it on speaker as she scrambles back to the others.

"Luena! What-"

"Barry!" She cuts Barry off, knowing the man could unknowingly reveal too much for such a critical time.

"I-is B there?" She asks, her code for Batman. She and Barry had once given each of the League members a code name jokingly, but now she is so grateful for that.

Barry is silent before there is a rustle heard from the phone. The man with the gun tenses and cocks his gun under Luena's chin as a warning. 

"Luena?" A gruff voice sounds.

Luena sighs.

"H-hey, B. Uh, I can't come to the dinner. I, uh, am occupied right now. I already sent the family a message. Tell them to check it, okay? Uh, bye," Luena finishes her message in a rush.

The man then snatches the phone, throws it onto the ground and smashes it with his shoes. Luena flinches, cowering and wrapping her hands around her legs, a perfect image of fear. However, she could not help the tilt of her lips which is gladly hidden within the fold of her knees.

Not a minute later, something crashes through the front of the bank, causing a chaos as people scream while the armed men fight against the Justice League. Barry appears in front of Luena to get her out but she refuses.

"Get the others first. I'll be fine," she says.

Barry tries to protest, but Luena insists and reminds Barry that the faster he helps the others, the faster he will get to save her. So, Luena waits as Barry gets people out one by one and watches the scene unfolding in front of her.

She is very glad for her decision because when Barry has to stop his rescue to help Arthur a few feet away from the rest, she accidentally sees a man from a window of the house just besides the bank holds something that Barry has told her about that would greatly cost the League and the world.

It could kill Superman; again.

In fact, she could see the moment Superman stumbles and looks around for the cause but is hindered by the continuous assault around him. Luena moves before she even thinks about it as the man shoots three arrows tied with kryptonite crystals towards Superman.

For a second, a fleeting thought that surely Superman could evade it easily enough with his speed and senses, but Luena knows that her body moves because of instinct and not because of logic.

She groans as the arrows stabbed her two arms and right thigh. She hears someone shouts her name, but as she falls on her knees, groaning, she only has one thing in her mind.

She points towards the house where the man has fled away from the window and shouts, "Not Superman. Others. There might be more." In a second, Diana flies there and comes back with the man screaming in her clutches, struggling before Diana throws him into the bank.

Barry wastes no time in punching the man within an inch of his life before he goes on a rampage, punching the remaining men in a blur of fists and fury followed by Superman who is thankful for Luena's help but is mad that he accidentally plays a role in hurting the woman.

Soon, all the men are unconscious, arrested and brought away by the police.

The League then surrounds her, looking anxious and worried like mother hens. Luena chuckles at that thought but then groans when it aggravates her wounds.

"We need to pull the arrows. Now," Batman gruffs.

Luena nods and breathes deeply before she supports herself on her good knee.

"Pull those on my shoulders first and then the one on my thigh," she says.

Batman nods and with care he pulls each arrow slowly but surely. Luna can only groan as she feels her wounds being abused, but as soon as she is freed from the arrows, she breathes a sigh of relief. She almost falls face down if not for Batman's reflex, holding her by the waist.

"Thanks," she says.

Batman nods before Diana carries her away into the waiting jet. Batman has recovered the kryptonite inside a lead box that he fortunately has stored inside the jet before everyone boards the jet and they fly towards the League headquarters.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting cared for in Wayne Manor, Luena gets to know Alf- Mr. Alfred (Luena chuckles), and Mr. Wayne.

When she comes to, she is lying on the softest bed, snuggled under the softest cover she has ever felt. A fleeting thought of where she is crosses over her mind, but not wanting to waste the possibly last chance of ever having to sleep in such a comfortable bed makes her ignores that thought and falls asleep again peacefully.

The next time she comes to, there is a shuffle of feet inside the room. She opens a fraction of her eyes and sees the figure that causes her to bolt onto her elbows, but then she groans as that momentary reflex has jarred her wounds, allowing the memory of the robbery yesterday to come back as she lets her body lies back slowly. Bruce stands near the bed, looking down at Luena.

"Good morning, Mr. Wayne," Luena groans, smiling small. "Uh, as much as I appreciate the gesture, why am I here, actually?" Luena asks, hoping to not sound ungrateful.

Bruce looks at the woman lying on the guestroom bed.

Luena stares back. She feels like the gaze that Bruce Wayne is giving her is loaded with clues, but she just could not put her finger to it. There is a nagging behind her mind, yet she is still missing a few pieces before she could put the puzzles together.

Bruce Wayne's sudden flirtatious smile snaps Luena out of her thought. However, before the man could act out his Brucie character, Luena quickly interjects.

"Mr. Wayne. You don't have to act in front of me. I, uh, Barry has told me quite a bit about you and I promise that despite working with the newspaper, I don't have any intention of outing you, Mr. Wayne," Luena says.

Bruce tenses and stares at the woman.

Luena is actually proud at herself as she manages to stare back and does not flinch away from the suddenly cold and calculative look from the man. She mentally praises herself. After a few moments of intense silence, Luena notices that Bruce Wayne's shoulders slowly relax a bit before the man gives her a nod.

"I know Barry Allen. He asked me to take care of you since your parents are busy and you live alone. Also, I have notified your workplace that you will have a week of bed-rest."

Luena sighs, relieved that it seems like she will still have her job when she gets back to work soon. The door is opened and inside comes a butler with a trolley filled with food, drink and supplements. Luna's stomach grumbles automatically, causing her to laugh sheepishly.

"Uh, thanks. I'm actually quite hungry."

The butler, Alfred as called by Bruce Wayne, smiles at her before helping her to sit against the headboard. Bruce Wayne nods at her before leaving the room, closing the door softly. Luena eats almost all of the food served and drinks mostly plain water and swallows a few vitamins before she lays down again with the butler's help.

"Thanks, Mr.-" Luena trails off, waiting for a name to be called with.

"Just Alfred please, Miss Stellar."

Luena smiles.

"Then, let's make a deal. I'll call you Alfred if you just call me Luena. How's that?"

Alfred looks at her in contemplation. Luena flutters her eyelashes to convey her innocence which she knows does not do that at all. It is just her habit. The old man smiles.

"Very well, Miss Luena," the man says before nodding and pushes the trolley towards the door.

"Good day, Mr. Alfred," Luena calls out before she snuggles against the blanket.

She hears a soft click of tongue from the man before the door is closed with a soft thump. She snickers before a yawn breaks out of her mouth. Closing her eyes, she lets the sleep claims her away.

The next day, Barry visits her as she sits on a chair outside of the house -her crutch leaning on the wall besides her- looking out the front lawn, reading while enjoying the sun and the wind that sometimes passes by. She actually wanted to continue her work online, but Mr. Alfred had politely and slyly wheedled her away and out of sight of her laptop now sitting closed on the table in front of the television.

She and Barry talk for a bit before the man has to run back to Central City to continue his job in the crime lab. She then continues her reading, not realizing that she has drifted off after a while until she is woken up by a crunching sound. When she opens her eyes, she sees Bruce Wayne getting out of his car.

She yawns, rubbing her eyes.

"Welcome home, Mr. Wayne," she greets, smiling.

Bruce nods at the woman before he gets into the house, foregoing his Brucie character since she already knows his real nature.

'Thanks to Barry' Bruce grumbles mentally.

Stretching a bit more, wincing when her wounds protest, Luena stands up and limps into the house with the help of her crutch under her left armpit. That night, she has dinner with the two men -Mr. Alfred having his after serving Bruce and her. This lifestyle, including Barry's inconsistent visits continues for the whole week.

Today is the seventh day she has been resting in the luxurious mansion and right now, she is packing the few clothes that Bruce Wayne had shockingly bought for her. She could not even refuse because they were already bought and prepared when she finds it out.

Using the cane that was also bought by the rich man after she did not need the crutch anymore, she slings the small bag on one shoulder carefully and walks out of the guestroom, heading towards the kitchen where Mr. Alfred surely is, judging by the clattering sounds coming from there.

"Good morning, Mr. Alfred," she greets as she puts the bag down by the chair before sitting herself.

"Good mor-" Alfred stops, before continuing, "-ning, Miss Luena and what, pray tell, are you doing, Miss?" Alfred squints at the bag.

Luena looks away sheepishly, suddenly feeling like the older man is scolding her though for what she does not know. 

"Uh, going back to my house? I mean, this is the seventh day. I'm only here for a week, right? So, I'll be working tomorrow which would be easier if I get back to my- uh, why are you glaring at my bag like that?" Luena stops her rambling when she finds the old man glaring at her bag like it is something deplorable.

"Um, am I not supposed to bring the clothes back? I mean, I don't mind, but since Mr. Wayne said that they were bought for me- uh, and why are you smiling like that at me now?" Luena blinks at the sharp smile that the man gives her.

Alfred smiles as he looks at the young woman looking at him in confusion before sighing. He really has to give it to this girl and his master for being difficult, stubborn and careless when it comes to their own well-being.

"Miss Luena, how will you take care of yourself? You're in no position to be working yet," he explains.

"Oh. It's okay, Mr. Alfred, I'll be fine. My wounds are already healing faster than normal people usually are. Mr. Wayne himself has told us that, remember? My immunity is strong," Luena waves the concern off and grins.

Alfred shakes his head in disbelief.

"Very well. It would seem that you're just as stubborn as Master Bruce. Still, Miss Luena, do call me whenever you need help, okay? Here's my and also this house's number. Don't hesitate to call for help. In fact, I'll be offended if you don't ask for help from me," he sniffs in offense.

Luena chuckles at the man's antics. She nods and promises to call for help if she needs it. Then, they eat breakfast. When Bruce Wayne gets back that afternoon, he does stop to look at Luna and her bag. She instinctively prepares her speech just like when she argues with Alfred, but fortunately, the man only nods, takes her bag and drives her home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the 2nd chapter. Right now, ideas are flooding my head, so enjoy before my brain dries up. Hahaha. Chapter 3 is already half-finished. *Grin*
> 
> Like before, ANY comments or suggestions/ideas are appreciated and awaited since I NEED it to improve. Thanks in advance!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An encounter with the Justice League members out of their suit, but Luena does not know that.

Around a week later, Luena is mostly healed albeit a little stiff yet on her wounds' area. It is Saturday and she is in a mall in Central City with Barry- shopping, in Barry's case and just hanging out, in her case.

Right now, they are sitting on a bench, facing a circle of waterfall while eating hamburgers and talking.

"You know, yesterday, Cla- I mean Superman told me and the rest something awesome, though Batman had growled his disagreement," Barry says, grinning.

Luena hums in acknowledgement.

"He told us that we should make you one of us."

Luena sputters, coughing as she hastily takes a tissue and wipes her mouth. She looks at her friend with wide eyes, face painted with extreme disbelief. Barry just grins wider.

"Uh, right. If you're joking right-"

"I'm not," Barry cuts Luena and if possible grins so much wider.

Luena has a flitting thought that she hopes Barry's lips would not split open and bleed. She drums her fingers on her thighs in nervousness.

"Well, if you're not ... I'll have to say thanks, but no thanks. I don't even know what I could do for you guys and besides, being a proofreader is like my all-time dream comes true, so, yeah, I'll have to decline. Sorry," Luena explains.

Barry pouts at her for a few seconds before he relents, sighing. He whines about how good it would be if they are a team, causing Luena to chuckle before they change topic.

That night, Luena has just bathed and got ready to sleep. She is leaning against the headboard of her bed, blanket covering her legs and a book opened on it.

Then, she is suddenly reminded back to Barry's revelation that Superman, the all-powerful Superman has suggested her, a typical young woman to be a part of the Justice League, the Earth protector.

Luena's mind halts for a moment before she chuckles at the incredulity. Shaking her head, she gets back to her reading until late night before she finally gets to bed.

The next morning, Luena is shocked with the appearance of Bruce Wayne when she is called to the office, sitting in front of Perry. She greets the man politely, not a hint that they already knew each other a bit more thanks to Barry, before she herself sits.

"Stellar. Mr. Wayne here wants you to be his interpreter for a three days business trip with a Malaysian company. Seeing as you come from Malaysia, I doubt that would prove a challenge," Perry says.

Luena stiffens, before politely looking at Mr. Wayne.

"I'm honoured that you would choose me, Mr. Wayne, but surely you could hire someone with experience? I mean, not that I can't and I won't, but I'm just confused," Luena says.

Mr. Wayne- no, more precisely, "Brucie" shrugs nonchalantly.

"Well, I can, but then, Perry here tells me that you come from Malaysia. So, I thought, surely a native is so much better than somebody who learns about it. So?" Brucie asks.

Luena just could not put Brucie and the real Bruce Wayne as the same, so she automatically switches the name according to Mr. Wayne's persona at that time.

Luena frowns, thinking hard, when Perry huffs in annoyance.

"Just take it. I'll make it as an initiative, the last step before I employ you as a permanent proofreader here," Perry suggests.

"Well... if Mr. Wayne is really fine with me, then, alright. I'll do it," Luena says smiling.

Brucie claps his hand. "Great!" He holds out his hand, "Looking forward to working with you, Miss Stellar. I'll call you soon to discuss about the details."

Luena shakes their hands together before they part ways and Luena gets back to her work, proofreading. Sure, the offer is a delightful surprise, but she still has loads of works to finish just for that day and so, she focuses her attention there.

When the weekend comes, Luna is called and invited by Alfred to have lunch with everyone; Bruce Wayne and his kids, Alfred, Barry, and friends to Barry and Mr. Wayne which is quite surprising and makes Luena curious as to whom are friends to both of them since they are just so different.

In fact, she is still curious as to how those two could be friends, though she has imagined Barry saving Mr. Wayne and then hitting it off after that. Well, that is the only explanation she has. Although, honestly, whenever she tells herself that, a nagging always prods behind her mind.

Luena shakes her mind. After she gives Alfred her OK, Luena starts to pick out an informal and comfortable outfit and prepares her handbag. Only after that does she relaxes, watching some anime and continues her book reading. Then, when it is half an hour before the agreed time where Alfred will pick her up, she gets ready.

Along the journey to the Wayne Manor, she is mostly silent, since she is more of a listener than a talker. However, she does chit chat with Mr. Alfred once in a while.

Upon arriving, Luena is escorted to the backyard garden where she greets Mr. Wayne and his sons before she is greeted cheerfully by Barry who then proceeds to introduce her to Clark Kent which is wow, that man is her senior and yet Barry never talks about him; Diana Prince, which again wow, a gruff man who introduces himself as Arthur and a man under a hoodie who refuses to look at her, just introducing himself as Cy which is a cool name in her opinion.

As they eat, Luena stays silent, listening and watching the others interact with each other. It is nice to have a meal like this once in a while since she hardly has any close friend before Barry and she has too much works to get back to her parents as often as she wanted to. As she looks around for the nth time, she clashes sight with Mr. Wayne. She smiles politely.

"Thank you for inviting me here, Mr. Wayne," Luena says.

"Just call me Bruce when we're in the circle of people," Bruce says.

"Oh, alright, thank you. I'm sure Barry's the one who pesters you to invite me too, but, uh, well, I'm sorry for intruding your family and friends' lunch," Luena says, looking sheepish.

Barry looks at Luena with a pout, "But, you're also our friend!"

"I'm your friend, Barry, and an acquaintance to Mr. Alfred and Mr .W- I mean Bruce, and the others are yours and Bruce's friends. I mean I don't mind, but surely it's not fun when a stranger invades your resting and fun time with your friends?" Luena says, raising an eyebrow as Barry.

"Ugh! See! This is why I told you guys we should tell her!" Barry huffs at the others.

Luena frowns. "Tell me what?"

Everyone is silent, looking at Bruce who frowns at them before glaring at her.

"Uh, sorry?" Luena blinks, not really understanding why she feels the need to apologize, but knowing that she is the reason it comes to this.

Bruce grumbles, before standing up, saying, "No," and leaves the garden. Luena sighs, thinking that she should have never said anything and should just say what she thought to Barry later after there are only the two of them. The others sigh, before Clark Kent looks at her apologetically.

"Sorry for that Luena," he says.

"Oh no, no. It's my mistake, Mr. Kent."

"Please, just call me Clark. I did call you Luena and you're Barry's awesome kind of a long-lost-sister friend-"

"Hey!" Barry shouts.

"-so, I'd like to befriend you as well. He's always talking about you," Clark says, smiling softly.

Luena looks at Barry, again raising an eyebrow, causing the man to sputters and shakes his legs in nervousness. Luena chuckles.

"I'd love to befriend those who are friends with my seemingly long-lost-brother," Luena grins.

Barry protests once again, grumbling about a conspiracy against him. Luena glances at Cy, but she remains silent, not wanting to cause anything more. After that, Bruce does come back and they continue the meal. Luena once again relaxes and looks around. At late evening, after a few more activities done with the others, Luena goes back to Metropolis with a taxi, despite Mr. Alfred offering to send her back. She does not want to trouble the man. Besides, she has a few stops to make before she gets home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone. The next chapter is going to take time since I'm not feeling well. The idea is there, but need to rest myself first both physically and mentally.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luena gains an ability and...

Luena wakes up startled. She blinks, trying to remember what makes her awake: Nothing. She groans, snuggling further under the blanket. She glances at the clock: 3 a.m. She groans again.

Now that she is awake, she would not be able to sleep anytime soon. Well, that does not mean she would not try. She slows her breathing and gently closes her eyelids. A moment passes and she feels her body becoming lax and her consciousness starts to fray at the edges. She waits and waits and waits, but sleep never comes. She is only buoyed between consciousness and sleeping. She sighs.

Knowing that she will just be agitated if she stays on the bed, she slips out and bathes. Then, she gets some cookies and eats them as she watches Pirates of the Carribean movies. Well, that is her plan, but as she is watching the first movie, when she reaches for the controller to lessen the volume, as soon as her fingers touch it, it melts into black goo except its buttons. Luena jolts away, bewildered.

"What-" she stutters.

She looks at her fingers and then the controller and back to her fingers again and again and again. Tentatively, she touches the tissue box besides the melted controller. Sure enough, that too melts into black goo upon touching, except the tissues that got mixed with the goo.

"Uh...okay?" she says confused.

Right at that moment, her phone rings. It is Barry. Knowing that her hands are right now out-of-service, she uses her right toe to pick up the call and puts it on speaker.

"Hey, Luena! What's up?" She hears Barry's usual greeting.

"Hey, Barry. Uh, not so good."

"What happened?" Luena hears Barry's voice turned concerned.

"Um, honestly, I don't really know. I uh, I think I need our friends' help."

"Alrite, I-"

"Our suited friends, Barry. Just to be clear, not the party friends. And I think I'll need help even getting out of my house if I don't want to wreck my house, which I prefer not to," Luena says.

There is a knock at the door. Luena suspects that it must be Barry. She shouts for him to come in any way he can because surely it can be repaired compared to if the door or the knob is turned into goo. The knob rattles and a moment later, Barry is standing in front of her.

"Hey, Barry."

Barry looks at her confused. He zips around the house before stopping again. Nothing seems amiss.

"Okay. What happened?" Barry asks her pseudo-sister.

"Those got turned when I touched them," Luena explains.

She motions towards the two pools of goo. Barry looks confused and perplexed.

"What, exactly that got turned?"

"Remote control and tissue box, without the buttons and tissues. Look," Luena says.

She touches one of her biscuits and it turns into goo, but this time, all cookies got turned, not just the one cookie. Then, she touches the plate, just to better prove what has happened. She looks at Barry who looks at the scene with a face half-disgusted, half-shocked. Luena laughs, causing the man to snaps out of his emotions and looks at Luena, clearing his throat.

"Right. I think we better bring you to the Batcave since only members can get into the Fortress. Wait a moment, I'll call Batman."

Barry pushes the lighting on his ear and starts to explain about the situation when Batman answers him. They talks for a while, leaving Luena waiting and bored. She just cannot stay still for too long. Wanting to test the theories that she has formed inside her heads about her...ability, she goes to her balcony where pots of small plants are arranged around it.

She touches the pots, then, the sand, then the leaves, stalks and flowers. She first touches them with the front side of her palm that turns everything into goo. Then, she uses the back of her palm to touch them and she finds out that it does not turn them into goo.

"Hm..." She hums.

Then, she goes to the kitchen where she is about to touch her oven, it is just so tempting to her, before a gruff voice stops her.

"What are you doing?" Batman gruffs out.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, sorry. I just got bored when Barry talked to you and forgot that I actually don't want to turn the whole house to goo. Thanks for stopping me," Luena says sheepishly.

"Let's go. I'll drive you there. Barry's gone there first to eat a cake Alfred baked," he says, turning around.

"Uh, Mr. Alfred? Aren't we going to the Batcave?" Luena asks even as she follows the man.

Batman stops, glances at her, then, moves again, causing Luena to follow him.

"Because," Batman says.

At the door, he makes sure that nobody is out there before swiftly moving out of the opened door, waiting for Luena to step out before he puts some kind of device locking the door to the wall since Barry has broken the knob.

"Thanks, Luena says.

As she follows the man into the Batmobile, hands opened with the back of her palms on her knees, the realization struck her. She looks wide-eyed at Batman who seems to have a smirk on his lips.

"Wait, are you Bruce Wayne?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I've been dying to post this chapter up! It's the start of Luena's messy life. Well, I hope you guys like it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arrangement happens and ...

Luena and Bruce arrive at the Batcave. Luena has come to term with the fact that her party friends are actually her Justice League friends. It explains so much about the nagging that keeps on itching behind her mind whenever she thinks of her friends as separate people. She knew the resemblance was too much alike, but, well, she just thought that she never was that lucky.

Bruce parks the Batmobile and they go to a metal table that seems to be the medical area of the cave where he tells Luena to lay down to scan her. Of course, with her palms facing upwards. After the diagnosis is done, Bruce goes to his nearby desktops and his fingers fly on the keyboard. Luena looks with awe at the inhuman speed, but, well, Batman. She gets down from the metal table. Seeing no extra chair, she just stands and waits for explanation, but there is only silence until Barry appears.

"Hey. How is it?" Barry asks, munching on a cookie.

Luena shrugs, pointing her chin towards the still silent...Bruce? Batman? Luena is confused as to which one she should address the man as right now, but since they are within Bruce's private home, he decides to think of him as Bruce. She will just change it if Bruce does not like it. Bruce swivels suddenly.

"You've experimented a bit right? Tell me about it," Bruce gruffs.

"Well, it seems like I can turn everything into goo except my own body parts, but, only using the front of my palms and only the thing that I touch directly. Like a tissue box is different than the tissue, so, if I touch the box, only the box will turn into goo. But, I haven't experimented with animals and other people which I prefer not to, so I don't know what will happen to those. Also, the goo doesn't smell and emits dangerous gas and, well, this is just a theory, but, I think this has to do with the Kryptonite spears that pierced me before, although it is weird that my injured foot stays normal. That's all I know," Luena says, shrugging.

"All is true," Bruce says, nodding. "Also, it seems like there are kryptonite in the form of green cells covering you palm muscles."

Luena can feel the frown marring Bruce's face under the cowl, probably because there are still so many questions with no answers about her newly-formed ability.

"Well, I'm just glad that it is limited to only my palms. However, if I can't touch everything, how am I going to do anything?" Luena sighs.

Bruce nods, staying silent, thinking.

"Hey, why not live with me?! I can take care of you. Then we can really brother and sister!" Barry says excitedly.

"Hm, well I don't mind, but, you need to work. What if I need something when you're not there? That would be a problem. I need someone who can be by my side constantly just in case something happen," Luena states.

Barry pouts, shoulders slumping in defeat. Luena shakes her head, smiling, amused.

"Then, where are you going to stay?" Barry asks.

Luena looks down with her fingers on her lips: her thinking habit.

"Well, I guess I can live with my parents for a bit. My mother is always home," Luena suggests, shrugging.

However, Bruce shakes his head in negative.

"I need you close-by. I need to examine you more if we want to create the dampener to your power sooner rather than later, preferably within Gotham," Bruce states, leaving no argument.

This time, Luena is the one who shakes her head, frowning. "I can't, Bruce. I have nobody here to help me. What if I get my mom to live with me in my apartment in Metropolis?" Luena suggests.

"I need you closer where you can come as soon as I need you to. I'll buy you an apartment here," Bruce says.

"Bruce, I can't pay you back if you buy me an expensive one and even if you don't-" Luena quickly adds when she sees Bruce tries to argue, "-and buy me a cheaper one, I don't think the area would be safe there. Also, I can't take my mom here. Crime rate is too high here. I can take care of myself, but my mom is too old to deal with this on a daily basis," Luena says, frowning.

Bruce remains silent. Barry and Luena looks at each other, the only solution to this already in their minds, but Luena really hopes that nobody brings it up, judging from the reluctance shown on Bruce's face who surely knows about this. He is after all the world's greatest detective. However, then, Barry grins with a glint in his eyes.

'Uh-oh' Luena thinks.

"I think..." Barry begins, Luena glowers at him, shaking her head in warning, but the man continues, "...that Luena should stay here then. She already stayed here before, why not stay again? That way, Alfred can take care of her and she can go to you whenever you want her to," Barry finishes with his hands stretched out in a ‘Ta-da!’ kind of way.

Luena sighs. She and Barry look at Bruce who is frowning irritated, leaving the verdict in the man's hand. They wait in silence as Bruce keeps on thinking. When it seems like there would be no answer coming from the brooding man, Luena opens her mouth to suggest something, anything even though she has no idea what, when the door to the Batcave is opened and Alfred comes in. He puts a tray of food on the extended table nearby the Batcomputer.

'Okay, now I'm starting to adopt Barry's nickname for all things belonging to Batman' Luena thinks amusedly.

"Master Bruce, Miss Luena, Mister Barry-"

"Alfred, mister makes me sound so old!" Barry whines while Luena chuckles.

"-I would not mind taking care of Miss Luena while she is in need. God knows I need to take care of something other than this house seeing as Master Bruce and his children hardly need me anymore," Alfred sniffs.

"You take care of me every day," Bruce argues.

"You really want to go there, young man?" Alfred challenges, making Bruce huffs and crosses his arms like a petulant child.

Luena snickers while Barry smothers his laugh behind his hands, causing Bruce to glare at them. They know, despite the cowl.

"If Mr. Alfred-"

"Oh, for the love of- just call him Alfred! He's been raising me since I was a baby and I can hardly make him drop the master title," Bruce growls in irritation.

Luena sighs.

'Guess I'll never make him drop it too then' Luena thinks.

"Alright. If Alfred is fine with me and if you're fine with a stranger in your house, I won't mind staying here for any time period you want me to," Luena says, shrugging.

Bruce sighs, taking off the cowl, rubbing his face in tiredness. He grumbles to himself for a while, before looking at me.

"Fine. Stay here. Alfred, prepare the room."

"With pleasure, Master Bruce."

"Wait," Luena stops Alfred's retreating figure. "Before you go Alfred, I need you to give me the smallest guestroom in this house, please."

Alfred looks at her scandalized while Bruce just raises an eyebrow in question. Barry cocks his head to one side in confusion.

"Why?" Barry asks.

Luena smiles sheepishly. "Uh, it's just. I'm not really a fan of large space. I'm a bit lazy actually to walk through too much distance, which is why my apartment is a bit on the too small side. I chose that purposely."

Alfred's eyes tick but he smiles politely albeit reluctantly at having to give the least best room to his master's guest and friend at that despite his master's denial at times. He silently vows to at least give the best service to the girl as long as she stays here.

"Very well, then," Alfred says stiffly before going away.

"Thanks, Alfred!" Luena shouts at the butler before turning back to the other two men.

They are staring at her. Luena raises one eyebrow in question.

"You're weird, but I still love you, no worry!" Barry says, grinning, hugging her tightly.

Luena laughs, but then she remembers something.

"Hey, Bruce," she calls to the man that has returned to analysing her data, "If my palm muscles are covered in kryptonite cells, then do you think my presence itself will affect Clark?"

Bruce freezes, before slowly turning and staring at her. Barry looks at her shocked.

"Wow," Barry breathes in awe, "How can you think of that?"

"Uh, just because? I mean, Superman and kryptonite is kind of general knowledge right? I mean, he was killed by one before," Luena shrugs. "I'm just wondering. If I am affecting him just by being there, then it's better if we don't meet at all unless we can find a way to, like, cover up my power."

Luena puts up her hands for emphasis when they all freeze at the sight. It is Barry who shrieks in fear, causing the bats to flee as Bruce bolts upwards.

"Uh-" Luena is speechless.

"On the table. Now!" Bruce shouts.

They both dash there. His hands wildly sets the scan as she scrambles to get onto the table, shouting for the shell-shocked Barry to help her get onto it seeing as her palms are now gone.

They are now swirling black smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Urgh, sorry for taking such a long time to update. I've been a bit lazy and... I decided to get back to my own style of writing: in details and looong; because I realize I'm not satisfied with the attempt to cut short and limit my own idea. Urgh! And also, since I'll be back to uni in a week AND I'm trying to create a 50,000 words fiction to put up in a contest (which I don't know if it will happen in a month but still I want to try... Pray for me, please \\(;0;)/ ) the updates might/would get longer, but I won't abandon this. Stay with me~~ >o<


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little trouble happens in Wayne manor.

Luena looks at the black smoke swirling around the glass of plain water, where her hands are supposed to be. Earlier, they found that the smoke does not turn things into goo like her solid palm would. They also found that with concentration, she can turn her hands whether into corporeal or smoke form at will. The smoke was examined and it turned out that it has no trace of krypton at all, meaning that Luena can do things freely when her hands are in smoke form. Well, that would work fine if that is not the most abnormal thing that people could do which is why now they are trying to find a way to work around that.

However, Bruce is not a morning person and so has gone to bed after determining that Luena's health is in order and Barry is back at Central City since he needs to work. Alfred is the only one awake besides her, sitting in front of her, not showing any disgust at her hands after a moment of shock when she came into the kitchen, eating breakfast together after much subtle word-war between them.

It is just, Luena is too much uncomfortable in being cared like a rich person and she does not need that to poke her dark side that she works hard to suppress all her life. She has had a glimpse once at who she could be with inflated pride and she does not want to experience that again. Ever.

Luena sighs. She floats the pancake with her smoky hands and eats them little by little. Honestly, it is quite convenient not having to wash your hands before and after you eat. She is quite of a neat-freak when it comes to washing in all aspect, so she always takes too much time and stresses too much whenever she washes everything.

"Hey, Alfred," Luena calls as she thought of something. "Can I go to the backyard garden? I mean, I don't really have anything to do until Bruce wakes up and I want to practice using my hands."

Alfred looks at her and nods. "Please, by all means. I will inform Master Bruce when he wakes up and searches for you."

Luena nods, finishing her breakfast, putting the dishes into the sink and is about to wash them as well when Alfred is suddenly there besides her with his own empty teacup, saying, "Miss, Luena. I believe that is my job. Please don't take all my work from me," he says with a little smile, joking.

Luena laughs, nodding her head and bids Alfred farewell before heading to the backyard garden. There, she looks up at the sun and feels the breeze.   
She listens to the sounds of birds chirping around the house. There is a forest nearby, but not near enough that there is a large space where she used to eat a few times with her friends outside of their superhero costumes -though she had not known yet at that time- and also with Bruce's children.

'Wait' Luena thinks. Now that she thinks about it, she hardly interacts with Bruce's children before and they were also busy talking with the other League members. 'Huh? Convenient at that time, but...' She frowns. 'Should I try to know them now that I'm forced to be in their circle? Hm...' She shrugs.

Slowly, as she walks along the garden, she uses her smoky hands to levitate leaves and sticks that are scattered about around her. She needs to practice until those hands feel like her hands again, not something foreign and unmanageable. She brushes the tree trunks, the ground, some stone benches here and there and the water in the pool. She just touches everything, glad that she actually could feel them as though she is touching all of those with her physical hands although the sensation is different. 

She continues to walk around aimlessly, letting her feet carry her deeper and deeper into the forest until she stumbles upon a small lake. She blinks and swivels around, finally realizing that she is lost.

"Uh-oh." Knowing that she needs to go back before her head gets anymore ideas, she tries to backtrack, looking at perhaps her previous trail: foot prints, crushed leaves, broken twigs and familiar sights. She walks and walks, and when the trail is unclear, she uses her instinct. She manages to find the benches and backtracks looking at where they point at as that was how she followed the benches before. However, when she reaches the fifth and last bench, the forest is still deep and away from the manor and the sun already bleeding red.

"Wait, how long have I been missing?" She questions to no one. She does not realize that her adventure had taken quite a time, but this does mean that she has gone very deep into forest indeed for the time to already turn to evening. She sighs and sits on the bench. Believing that Bruce and Alfred will already realize that she could be lost in this forest, she decides to wait there for the rescue.

'Urgh. This is why I hate letting people take care of me. I'll just a burden' she thinks as she lays curled on the bench. The wind has picked up a bit. She curls tighter and closes her eyes, feeling lullabied by the wind despite the cold. Suddenly, she hears the leaves crunches and her name being called. She sits up, trembling and calls out to the voice. It is Bruce.

"H-hey, Bruce. S-sorry for th-this," she stutters, smiling weakly while trying to chase the cold away. Bruce nods before he opens the blanket that Luena has missed to see before draping it over her shoulders. "Thanks, just, g-give me a minute to w-warm up before we go back, yeah." Again, Bruce just nods before he pushes his intercom and converses with the other person whom Luena thinks will be none other than Alfred. He waits for Luena to be warm enough to stand and walk besides him back to the manor.

At the kitchen, Alfred is waiting for them with hot food and Barry tackles Luena as soon as he sees her safe and sound albeit a bit shivery. As they all eat dinner, Barry rants about how reckless Luena has been and scolds her for not bringing any means of calling anyone and mother hens her once in a while. Even Alfred looks a bit exasperated at Barry's antic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is already in the making. Bear with me, please.  
> >o<


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luena meets Damian and they are alone for a whole week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Already working on the next chapter but as usual, it will take times. Thank you for still reading this fic!

Luena takes three days to fully rest, as usual whenever she pushes herself too much. On the fourth day, she is back to her feet. However, after the forest incident, Bruce finally realizes how absent-minded Luena could be most of the time when she has nothing to do. From then on, he makes sure to always have someone look after her. 

Usually, it is Alfred and sometimes Barry when the man has free time. Bruce usually looks after her during late evening between the dinner and Batman's patrol.

Luena tries to appease them by saying that if they actually give her something to do other than waiting for Bruce to come up with something to cover her newly-empowered physical hands or at least dampen her ability, she could focus on that. However, Barry -caring but too honest Barry- has revealed a few past events that were caused by Luena's absent-mindedness and so, it is by unanimous vote -except Luena's of course- that she will need to be with someone every time.

Well, she is free to do anything, just under the supervision of somebody. Knowing that it is futile to go head to head with the Batman and Alfred as well, she has agreed. However, today is a bit different. Damian, Bruce's youngest child who is on a holiday from his training with the Titans, is her "guardian" for today. Bruce and Alfred are away for a week due to some problems at one of Wayne's branches in another country and Barry is busy with a new serial murder case.

That leaves the Justice League but all of the others are somehow suddenly swamped with sudden jobs and tasks both in- and out of suit. In the end, that leaves only Bruce's sons with whom he prefers to leave Luena to be with in the manor. At first he prefers Dick or Tim, but both are doing undercover and Jason's current location is unknown, leaving only Damian as the only available person. Add to that the fact that he has finished his training for now and has been given a week holiday.

Bruce is a bit... no, he is very reluctant to ask Damian, seeing as Luena is a stranger after all to Bruce's sons. But, Luena assures Bruce that she will try to not annoy or trigger Damian to do anything harmful towards her. 

"I could interact with you, surely I could survive a week with your son," she said.

At that, Bruce only raises a brow to her. 

"If you say so," Bruce has said before he made a call to the Titans Tower and asked -ordered- Robin to come home and look after Luena. There may be some growls and raised voices here and there before Batman made an appearance -voice wise- and ordered Robin to do as he was told.

So, here they are in the Wayne manor. It is 6 in the morning of the first day of Luena and Damian's one week. The boy is still sleeping, while Luena is already awake, freshly bathed and cooking breakfast in the kitchen. Well, not so much cooking as putting together some assembles for mini pizzas and cooking them in the oven. Since Bruce told Luena to let Damian do as he wishes all week except going on patrol at night, she foregoes Damian's breakfast and plans to make some more when the boy wakes up later. After breakfast, she goes to the garden- only around the open space since the forest area has been forbidden for her now.

While waiting for Damian to wake up, Luena uses that time to practice her abilities, melting dry leaves and flowers as well as changing her hands from smoke to corporeal state from one to another every few seconds. So far, she finds that the more she concentrates, the faster things will melt, but it would also give her massive headache. She is forced to rest for an hour after her melting exercise before she finally feels her headache subsides to a bearable state.

After that, she decides to practice her smoky hands. For that, she finds that she only needs to imagine or think what she wants her hands to do and voila, it happens. For this, she also needs to concentrate, sure, but it does not affect the strength of her smoky form. Instead, that one depends on her physical fitness which is quite a problem since she hates to work out, but, well, nothing is a better motivation than wanting your incorporeal hands to actually work to be able to live normally again. Well, as normal as a pair of smoky hands can be.

It is 12 in the afternoon when Damian finally wakes up and opens the backdoor. Luena swivels around on her feet, just finishing her stretching. The sun is nowhere near glaring as is Gotham's usual cloudy weather all year-round, though Luena is already feeling exhausted a little bit. The boy is squinting his eyes at her. Luena smiles and waves her hands, walking back towards the kitchen.

"Good Morning. You can call me Luena. Would you like me to call you Mr. Wayne or Mr. Damian or do you prefer to forego the mister?" Luena asks, seeing as they never got to the introduction part yesterday as the boy came in late in the night.

Damian stares at her, silent and calculating. She thinks that the young man is every bit the mini version of Bruce. Still smiling, she walks past the boy and says, "Would you like some brunch? I'm going to make some more mini pizzas."

"Some more?" Damian asks perplexed. She is going to call him Damian in her head for convenience sake unless told otherwise.

"I've actually been awake for some time now. I had my breakfast before exercising my power but now I'm hungry again," Luena explains as she assembles her ingredients onto some bread. 

Damian looks at her like she is not normal, frowning.

"You're not supposed to be left alone. Father has reminded me in more ways than one can think of, that in no way must I left you be alone without supervision. He said that something has happened before. Something about absent-mindedness and forest." Luena blinks. "Oh. Er...I'm sorry?" Damian's frown deepens.

Luena sighs. "Look, I realize that aside from Alfred; Bruce and you and Barry too seem to wake up around noon, but I come from an average family where we have to start working from morning. So, my body has been trained to wake up early and once I'm awake, that's it. I can't just sit down and do nothing, so I decided to work on my ability while waiting for you to wake up." Luena puts her pizza stacks into the oven and proceeds to make drinks.

"What drink would you like?"

Damian suddenly startles from his intense staring at her and frowns again. Luena thinks that he really is like a mini Bruce, frowny and grumpy. "You're our guest. You should not do this. We can order out."

Luena grins at that, drinking some milk before she says, "Well...sure we can, but then again, Alfred tells me and I quote: "Do refrain from indulging in Master Damian's desire to order out. I believe that you could at least make something healthy, Miss Luena and I shall trust you with Master Damian's eating needs." Look, here is the ingredients list that Alfred makes where he prefers to shop, although when I check the fridges, I don't think we'll have to worry about that."

Damian grumbles. Luena takes a sit in front of the boy. "Look, I promise that my cooking is edible although not as excellent as Alfred, but..." Luena smiles ruefully, "...my cooking will definitely not taste expensive." 

Damian huffs, "I never expect you to." Luena grins, "Great." 

At that moment, the oven dings and Luena takes out the pizzas. As she turns around after finishing putting them all on a plate, she is startled by Damian's sudden presence behind her. The boy takes the plate from her and walks back to the table. "Alfred will not be pleased if I let the guest do all the work. Be grateful for this."

"Oh, ok. Thanks, Mr. Wayne." 

Damian huffs. "Just call me Damian." 

Luena nods. "Alright. Then, you can call me Luena."

Damian nods, "Very well."

They both eat the pizzas and once, Luena even thinks that she sees Damian looks pleased with her pizzas for a few seconds, although she knows that the taste will be way beyond what Alfred has to offer. Nonetheless, she is glad. After that, she insists on washing the dishes, telling the boy to wash up. When the boy argues that he needs to watch her, she promises that she herself will have a long bath. After all that practices and exercises, her body is sweaty and sore. She needs a few moments soaking in warm water to destress.

After that, she and Damian just lounge around the library, reading books in silence. Alfred was the one who introduced the book heaven to her when she stayed there after the kryptonite incident. Time passes in calm and silence as they keep on reading. She only realizes that has fallen asleep when there is a small hand shaking her awake. She blinks and looks up with dazed eyes, yawning. "Damian?"

"It's already 5 o'clock. I'm hungry and you need to eat too," the boy explains. Luena rubs her eyes while answering, "Oh, ok. I'll wash my face first and then I'll cook." Luena stands up, wobbling a little as sleep still clings to her eyelids. "No need. It seems Alfred has prepared some dishes that can be reheated. You go and wash your face. I'll reheat the food." Luena blinks. "You know how to use it?" Damian glares. Luena quickly explains herself, "Hey, I mean no offence but I never see even your Dad uses any cooking utensil. It was all done by Alfred. I'm just asking to clarify." Damian huffs, "I can do simple reheating, yes. The Titans have scheduled tasks segregated among the members."

"Oh, ok, cool. I'll go freshen up, then." Luena smiles and goes to her room. After the meals, once again, Luena retreats to the library while Damian goes to the animal farm -that shocks Luena, really- after much convincing and promising to not leave the room at all. Luckily, even the library has its own bathroom and toilet though not as fancy as the ones in the bedrooms. Once again, Luena loses herself in her reading.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian misses dinner and Luena tries to find him when she meets an array of bullets. Who is attacking her and why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found this chapter in my hard disk! Hahaha. Thought I lost it. Fortunately I did not.

Luena startles to wake. She looks around her, sluggish but alert. The room is dark, but luckily, the moonlight provides enough light for her eyes to adjust better and for her to find the light switch. She snaps her eyes shut when the light floods the room. Blinking her eyes open again, she looks at the clock. It is already nine in the night, but the manor does not seem to have any other person than her. Surely, Damian would have woken her up if he is back already. Putting the book back onto the shelves, she switches off the light and shuts the door.

"Damian?" She calls softly, her voice still scratchy from sleep. She goes to the kitchen and has a cup of water to clear her throat. After cleaning the cup back, she tries to call for the boy again. "Damian?!" She shouts. Hopefully that would not seem rude if the boy is present. But, instead of a frowning little face, silence greets her. Suddenly, Luena remembers one of Bruce's reminders.

"Don't let Damian with the animals too long. He'll lost track of time." At that time, Luena thought that Bruce meant plushie animals - surprising, yes, but who knows - or just insects around the manor like the ants, spiders or butterflies. Sometimes, Luena does too... Ok, most of the time she is absent-minded, but that is not the point.

The point is, because she does not know anything about any of Bruce's sons, she just assumes normal things that kids or teenagers would have done. She should have thought better, they are Robins after all and their father is the legendary Batman. Luena decides to visit the animal farm though she does not know where it is. Well, she could call Bruce... or no, she should call Alfred, but she does not know what time it is at the other country and even which country they are at right now. They did say that they might have to hop from one branch to another if the case is found to be related to other Wayne branches as well.

And Luena really hates to disturb others. She despises that with her whole beings, but she does not mind when others need her anytime. Some would say she is a contradiction, but, well, that is how she is. Learning from previous incident, she makes sure to take her phone that is in her room with her along with a torchlight, a blanket, a bottle of water, an army knife and an umbrella. She put all of that inside her tote bag unzipped and locks the front door, all using her smoky hands, manipulating the lock mechanism. Sure, she could have used the house key given by Alfred, but she is afraid to lose it. Standing at the top of the front stairs, torchlight switched and floated in front her of her, she closes her eyes and opens her ears.

In front of her is the city and on the back of the house is the forest, so those two directions are off. That leaves either the left or the right direction. Luena does not have any enhanced senses, but if she focuses hard enough, she could strain a little bit of her hearing than normal and her instinct. So, she breathes and focuses on her surroundings. It is a split second, but it is enough for her to jump aside as the bullet shoots past her head and embeds on the front door. The bang sound rings loud in the silence. Luckily, the manor is way out of the city hearing range.

"What-" Luena jumps again, cutting off her question as another bullet is aimed at her feet this time. After that, it is all she could do to dodge the bullet and stay a safe distance away from her attacker. She could not see who it is, but she could see that his face is wholly covered in red and he wears a jacket. His movement is rough but very smooth, like a trained combatant. Luena knows that she needs to find a way to stop this soon, seeing as she really lacks strength even though her instinct is superb. It is only time before her body becomes too tired to react as fast as her instinct. Suddenly, the shooting stops.

She can clearly see her attacker in front of her as he slowly reloads his guns. This is her only chance. "Stop!" Luena shouts, panting. The man clicks his guns and looks at her in silence. "Why are you attacking me? Are you a thief? An assassin? Why are you here? Mister Wayne is not here if you're trying to kidnap or harm him!" They stay silent, but in that moment, Luena thinks that she sees the other's shoulders suddenly relax. It is just a little difference, but to Luena who is high on adrenaline and with sharpened senses, she manages to catch the difference. She takes a deep breath and stands up straight, looking into her attacker's eyes.

"Wait, are you actually trying to protect this manor instead of attacking me?" The other stiffens, his body changing back into a tense stance. Luena quickly holds her hands up. "Woah, wait! I'm not a threat, if that is what you think. I'm living here for now under Mr. Wayne's order." Luena pauses before she mumbles to herself, "Well, more like Batman's order."

"Wait, what did you just say?" The man -gender now clear from his voice- demands. Luena blinks. "Huh? Uh, I'm living here-"

"No, not that. The other one." Luena is now confused. "Uhm, I'm not a threat?"

"No! You said this is Batman's order, didn't you?" Luena blinks... blinks again and blinks. "Uh, when did I say that?"  
Suddenly, the man laughs as he puts away his guns. "Okay, now I'm really sure you're not a threat. No thief or evil would sound so naive. Haa... that's a good laugh. But, man, you sure are fast on your feet. You're a runner or something? Superpower perhaps?" The man nears Luena and takes off his - now that she can see better and clearer - a red hood and-

Wow. He’s handsome! And that streak of white hair! Luena feels her heart jumps a beat. She quickly looks down. Why is everyone around Bruce so good looking!

"No, never a runner and well, I just got ability, but it's not speed. That was..." Luena looks at her incorporeal hands, at the smoke undulating calmly. If her hands are looking normal right then, they would be in a tight grip. She takes a deep breath before she looks up and smiles small, "That was just muscle memory from the past. It's just an ingrained muscle memory." The man looks at her for a beat before he shrugs. "Hey, I totally understand the not wanting to dwell on the past. It's cool." Luena nods, "Yeah, thanks. Oh, by the-"

"What is going on here!?" A sudden child voice shouts -demands- from their side. It is Damian. He is heaving heavily, as though he has just run a marathon. By his side is a big dog. "Oh, hey, devil spawn!" The man greets the boy. Damian seethes, "Todd. What did you do?" Todd only rolls his eyes. "I only try to maim this woman here-"

"What?!"

"-before I find out that she is not a thief."

"You did what?! You idiot! She could have been killed! Then Bruce would kill me! After he kill you! But still, argh!!!" Damian starts to freak out as he shouts nonsense.

"Uhm, Damian, it's fine, I'm okay." Luena tries to calm the boy down. Damian points his finger at her, "Well, you could have died! How are you the one calm and not being angry?!" Todd clucks his tongue, "She's fine. She was all jumping here and there avoiding my bullets." Damian then glares at the man. "And you! You could just ask her, but no! You pull the shoot before ask act!" Then, the boy returns back to his pacing and shouting.

Luena feels lost. "What should we do...um…what should I call you?" The man looks at her. "Just call me Jason since you already calls the devil spawn Damian and I assume you're calling...B as Bruce?" Luena nods. "Well, since he would not calm down..." The man pulls out his gun. "Maybe I could shoot at him once and maybe he'll calm down then." Jason grins. Luena frowns at that and holds the gun, startling the man as she pushes the weapon down.

"If he is hurt, Bruce would blame me, which is true, but still." Then, Luena looks at the dog sitting on the ground nearby Damian like a loyal friend. "What's that dog's name?" Jason raises an eyebrow, "Ace. He's Damian's best bud." Luena hums in thought. "Is he clever? Can he understand me if I'm to talk to him?" Jason grins, "Oh? Why would you ask that?" Luena shrugs. "Well, at this point, I'm open to all kind of possibility with everything that's involved with you guys." Jason laughs. "Clever woman, huh? Well, sure, he can. He's a smart dog. Very smart and definitely great at combat." Luena nods before she walks towards the dog.

Luena squats down and looks into the dog's eyes. "Hello, Ace. My name's Luena." Luena smiles. "I know you're clever and that you understand what I'm talking about, so, can I ask you to calm Damian down? I don't want him to be stressed and it's already late in the night. I think Damian needs to calm down and eat something and get some sleep." Luena thinks that she sees a twinkle of understanding in the dog's eyes. "Also, you see, Damian and I are going to be living together, only the two of us, for a week and today is only day one. I don't think it's a good idea for him to already be this stressed. So, can you help me, please? Please calm down Damian if you can."

The dog looks back at her for a moment before it gets on all four, walks towards the boy and jumps on Damian's back, causing the boy to fall down and stops shouting. Behind her, Luena hears Jason laughing in glee. She smiles as Damian squirms under Ace. She nears the boy and squats down. "Thank you, Ace. Now, Damian, have you calmed down?" Damian glares at her, but only huffs in irritation. "Now, why don't we go inside, have some dinner and a bath and then go to sleep, hm? If you're still unsatisfied, we'll talk about this tomorrow, okay? It's already late and I really think all of us need some rest after all the chaos and stress. Is that okay?"

Damian only grumbles but then Ace puts a paw on the boy's head as though chiding him, making Damian huffs, "Fine! Now, get off me, Ace and stop laughing Todd!" Luena smiles as Damian pats himself off the dirt. "Thank you, Ace. I'll prepare your dinner too." Damian suddenly waves his hand, "I'll give Ace his meal. He has particular taste and he doesn't like strangers giving food to him." Luena nods. "Alright then." They walk back to the front door. "Will you be staying, Jason?" Jason shakes his head. "Nah, I'm just here for Alfred's cooking after not eating it for a while. I'll go."

"Oh, ok. See you soon then." Luena waves and walks ahead, not realizing that she sounds disappointed since she really wants to know all of Bruce's sons like she wants to know all of her friends in- and out of suit. Damian glares at his adopted older brother as Luena walks inside the house after opening the door with her smoky hands. Jason glares back. Damian smirks and waves his hand haughtily as he said softly so Luena does not hear them, "Whatever's fine with your conscience, Todd. Go on." Jason hisses under his breath, "She's not a child." Damian rolls his eyes, "Clearly, captain obvious." Jason grumbles, "Fine, but only for-"

"Hey, Damian. Oh, are you two talking about something?" Luena comes back to the door after she realizes that nobody is following her to the kitchen. She is surprised when she sees Jason still there. "Um, I'll leave you two then." Damian shakes his head. "No need. We've finished our talk. Jason's going." Jason grits his teeth. "Actually, I'm staying for dinner. Alfred's not here, but then again, my favourite snacks are still here, so they will do." Luena perks up unconsciously, "Oh. Well then, come on in, guys." Luena then goes back to the kitchen. Damian grins as he walks inside. "Not. A. Word." Jason grits out. Damian's grin widens. Jason curses under his breath as he gets in last and locks the door.

That night, Luena gets to know a bit more about Damian and Jason. The two are constantly on each other's throat, but fortunately, only verbally as they reveal secret after secret of each other in an attempt to embarrass each other. Luena only smiles at that and watches them bicker like siblings do. Near Damian, Ace looks up once and looks at the two as well for a moment before going back to eat his meal. Luena has to stop herself from laughing right then, because she could just imagine that if Ace was a human, he would just sigh and roll his eyes at the other two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter already being drafted. Wait for the next heart-stopping moment. You might get a glimpse of Luena's darker side. ;)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luena gets a phone call from her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some format might be different from before if you realize as I am trying to find my own way of writing still. And do forgive me for the OOC-ness of the characters if there is any.
> 
> Well then, please enjoy!

When Luena wakes up, like usual, she has some breakfast and then trains in the backyard. But, this time, she is not alone. To her surprise, Jason is still there and is playing with his phone when she goes into the kitchen. Jason offers to train with her.

“You’re going to train with that arm?” Jason asks as he looks at her smoky arms.

“Oh, yeah. I wonder when you’re going to ask about this and I’ve forgotten about this since I’ve been able to use it like my normal hands.” Luena says as the smoke swirls around, looking as though she is wriggling her hands.

Jason shrugs, “I don’t want to ask about that if I’m not going to stay before. But, since we’re going to train, I need equality here.”

Luena nods. “Yeah, well, my hands would be in this smoke state for all of the time except during when I’m going to train my ability which I would need to change it to normal state.”

“And why is that?”

“My normal hands would turn anything except myself into goo. Here, let me show you.” Luena changes her hands to normal and touches a few stones around her and they turn into goo immediately.

“Huh, cool.” Jason says with a nod. Luena shrugs. “Oh hey, I forgot to ask. What’s your name when you go out patrolling?” Luena asks as she turns back her hands into smoke and they both stretch and warm up their bodies.

“Red Hood,” Jason answers as he clicks his guns ready. “Cool.” Luena says. “Praises won’t make me be any gentler with you,” he smirks.

“Hah. I’d be insulted if you did. I do want to get better at this, not worse.” Luena smirks back. “Oh? Now, you’re asking for it. Don’t blame me later on.”

They get into position, staring and waiting for the other to attack as they circle each other. Minutes pass, but nobody has made a dash for the other. There is this one time when Jason puts a foot in front of him and Luena steps back instantly, body coiled in anticipation. They both stop then, staring, calculating. When nothing happens, they circle each other again. Then, Luena darts her eyes to the other’s guns and her hands swirl a bit forward and Jason narrows his eyes back and tightens his hands on the guns. They stop again, waiting and planning, yet again, nobody tries to one-up the other. They circle again. This keeps on going with one making small movements and the other reacts back with little movements, but each has yet to make a jump on the other.

Luena’s head is starting to throb with concentration and her now hardly-used muscles are starting to ache with the coiled anticipation which is never let loose as they keep on assessing each other. When another few minutes pass, Luena stops, straightens her hunched form and huffs. Jason raises an eyebrow and straightens as well as he pockets his guns.

“I don’t think this is working,” Luena huffs. Jason laughs, “Yeah. But damn, never knew you had it in you. You got some past or something?” Jason asks.

To others he might sound nonchalant and unassuming, but she knows better. Jason is wary with her now. Luena shrugs her shoulders.

“Or something, yeah. That’s why I don’t really want this ability.” Luena looks at her hands. The smoke is idly swirling almost in an imitation shape of normal hands. “If Bruce can dampen or better yet get rid of it, then it would be for the best.”

“Well, I can just kill you,” Jason offers, suddenly cocking his gun to her head, “Then, this whole matter would not even be a problem.”

Luena stares and she knows that if she agrees to that, the young man would have no qualm in killing her right then and there. She smiles small and stretched, before shrugging again.

“You could and I did consider that as an option, but I was never a fan of suicide and my parents would be devastated. I could not do that to them. I haven’t repay them enough yet for taking me in when I was still a baby, having no home and parents.”

Jason nods, putting his gun away again. “I would say the offer still stands, but seeing as you’re not fond of suicide…” Jason lets his sentence trails off.

After that, Jason tries to go, but Luena manages to ask him to stay for breakfast at least before the he goes. Jason agrees. With that, Luena switches her hands to corporeal form and practices her ability. Fortunately, she finds out that the goo would be gone in smoke within the day though she does not really try to time the length of period between things turning into goo and then into smoke. Meanwhile, Jason retreats inside to do who knows what. When the sun is high up, she cools down and goes inside to cook some brunch. Although, when she gets inside, the table seems to be filled with food already, courtesy of Jason who turns out has went to a restaurant and buy them the food. She thanks the young man and tells him to wait for a while as she wakes Damian and Ace up before she goes to her own room to freshen up.

Half an hour later, she is sitting at the table, eating her food while watching the brothers bicker and Ace looking at them with exasperation while she eats just like before. Luena thinks that Ace is just like Bruce or Alfred sometimes. At one time, she hears the names ‘Dick’ and ‘Drake’. From what she knows from Barry and remembers from their only encounter before, she wonders about where the two are and whether they know about Bruce’s order to Damian to monitor her. Then again, Jason seems to not know from what happened last night. That could bring a new problem later on.

“Hm…” Luena hums, not realizing she does it aloud, causing the two boys to stop and look at her.

When she realizes that it has been too silent for a while now, she looks up from drinking her milk-coffee and sees them looking at her. Jason is raising an eyebrow while Damian is glaring at her. She swallows her drink.

“What?”

“Something on your mind?” Jason asks. Luens shrugs. “I’m just wondering if your other brothers know about me being here. I don’t really want last night to repeat for everyone’s sake.”

Jason then flips his phone and types something before he slips it back into his jacket pocket. “Done. Now they know.” Luena smiles, “Nice. Thanks.” 

Jason shrugs. “I’ll warn you though. Dick would be here as soon as he gets back from his mission and bothers you just like an annoying older brother would. Tim would be right by him and interrogates you to the death. He might not even let you sleep. He’s worse than B sometimes… many times.”

Luena laughs aloud, “I’ll be waiting then.” Damian shakes his hands, saying in disbelief, “You’re crazy. You do. I don’t know how you can make Father not wary of you in such a short time and Jason to be here even now and for Ace to listen to you.” He narrows his eyes to her, “Are you doing magic?”

Luena laughs again. “I’m not, Damian. Surely if I can just use magic, I would use it to cook instead of eating simple pizza. And I’m sure Bruce would know if I am. All of you must also have contacts of your in-suit circles. You can just ask around if they have heard of me if you’re wary.” Luena raises an eyebrow as she sips her drink.

Damian huffs, “Very well. I’m sure if even Alfred trusts you, then I will give you the benefit of the doubt.” Jason smirks then, eyes glinting with mischief. “Oh… What’s this? Is the little demon spawn getting soft? You never relents your doubt even for Big Blue.”

“Shut up, Todd!” Damian growls. Jason’s smirk grows wider, “Or what?”

Oh boy, here they go again. Luena shakes her head and smiles softly.

Suddenly, her phone rings. Seeing as the two boys are still arguing, she goes to the living room and answers her phone. It is an unknown number. She frowns.

“Hello?”

“Well, hello, there.”

Luena stiffens. That sweet voice. That sickeningly sweet voice. She has not heard that voice since she was a child and now it is back. Her smoky hands suddenly become more compact as they swirl, thicken and imitate the form of normal hands despite still having the smoky state. Her phone cracks, startling her as she looks at what happens from the corner of her eyes. Her hands seem to still be in smoke state but they are shaped into normal hands instead of just loose smokes. She relaxes, but her hands remain in hands shape and not swirls shape.

“What do you want?” She asks calmly. She has had years to control and get rid of the mental control and from the silence on the other side, she knows that now they know that they could not control her anymore. She has sought help when she vowed to change and now that she has changed, she would not go back to her old ways. She would not return to the darkness that almost enveloped and swallowed her family whole.

“You traitor,” the voice hisses.

“No, I’m not. You’re the one who threw me away, saying I’m useless when I refused to do your bid anymore. You did not kill me. You threw me away. So, no. I’m not a traitor. I’ll only ask once more. What. Do. You. Want?”

Luena hears a silence before there are only hisses and the call ends. The tooting from the phone sounds loud in her ears. She breathes in and out. Unlike when it was her early days when she just started to train her mental, trying to get rid of the ‘control code’ from her brain, she does not panic and goes into frenzy anymore. However, she does feel like she needs to scratch her arms, feeling like ants are crawling all over her skin though she does not relent to the temptation. The sweet voice lingers in her ears like poison. She does not remember how long she stands there feeling like her past is catching up to her now that she has tasted a semblance of peace and joy in her life aside from living with her parents.

“-na?”

“-uena?!”

“Luena!”

Her arm is suddenly yanked and in reflex, she twists it behind the attacker. When another pair of strong arms grabs her from behind, she smacks her head backward, hearing the expected groan. She quickly lets go of the arm in her hold, hold the ones around her chest, steps on the back of the one in front of her and twists in a backward jump. The hands holding her get loose. As soon as she lands behind her attacker, she kicks that back too. She takes a few steps backwards, crouching low, eyes trying to adjust through the haze of instinct and adrenaline. She hears her attackers groaning and a dog growling when suddenly, there’s a booming voice.

“What’s happening here?!”

Luena snaps out. She looks ahead and there, by the open main door of the manor stand Bruce and Alfred.

“Bruce?” Luena asks, sounding breathy as though she has just run a marathon. She cups her face with one hand and breathes in, calming herself. She hears a muffled groan. When she looks at the source, she gasps. Jason’s nose is bleeding as he tries to staunch the blood with a sleeve.

“Oh no. I’m so sorry Jason! I… It was…” Luena tries to explain but she could not reveal her past without them knowing the risk of even knowing about it. Jason just waves his hand as though waving off her apology, that it does not matter. But, of course it does! To her it does matter. She looks at her hands and tries to change them to her normal hands before turning turn them back to smoky forms in order to relax her nerves like how she used to flex her normal hands before this ability. However, her hands do not change. They remain in the smoke state despite its form of normal palms although her five fingers do not have nails. Luena freezes. She tries again and again and again, flailing her hands like it would help her to concentrate better at what she is trying to do. Nothing happens. Her hands remain in solid-smoke state.

“Luena?” Damian asks as he nears her despite Bruce’s hand on his shoulder. Luena blinks and blinks at her hands before she sighs deeply.

“I’m sorry to spring this on you right now and I promise to tell you about what just happened if you want to later, but right now, I can’t change my hands back. They would not change back to normal and they would not change back to swirling state like normal smoke.”

Bruce frowns grimly. He nods. “Alfred, please treat Jason’s nose.”

“I can do it myself,” Jason hisses, but he lets himself be manoeuvred by Alfred towards a bathroom.

“Damian and Luena, come with me. We’re going to the cave.” Bruce walks away before either of them can say anything. Damian looks at her worriedly, making her heart melts that the boy still worry about her despite what just happened.

“I’m sorry for what happened, Damian.”

Damian frowns and waves his hands about, “No need to worry. There are bad days for everyone. …..You sure you’re okay?” Luena smiles. “I am now. Thank you for asking.”

Damian huffs, but she can see a smile there, a very tiny smile. They follow Bruce through the grandfather clock and down the cave. As they walk down the stairs, she just hopes that whatever is happening, it is for the better.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And...here I am finally. BEFORE you read this chapter, I have to say that there is a few changes on the previous chapter. It does not affect the storyline at all, just adding things that I think needs to be made clearer is all. If you mind, then read the chapter 9 first before you read this new chapter. So, this chapter is a bit short but it has to be stopped there. Also, I've finished the next chapter and it's a long one BUT you'll have to wait. I realize that I tend to forget details of the past chapters so I need to really make sure that my story is in sync. Be patient okay. *wink* Okay, then. Go on. Read the story. Enjoy~

Right now, Luena is packing her belongings into her suitcase. It seems that her hands have stopped changing into corporeal state and loose smoke. They are now in a solid state but still made up of smoke. Also, there are no more changing things into goo. Despite the appearance, her hands are now normal and without ability. The scan also showed no kryptonite in her solid-smoke hands, so, she has decided to get back to her home and to work despite Bruce’s disagreement.

What is more is the previous matter where she loses herself to her past. It is great that she does not drive herself into unmanageable panic anymore, but it seems that she still has more to work out on her past. She has sought Jason and profusely asks for forgiveness before the man puts out a gun to her head and tells her to stop apologizing because there is nothing to be forgiven in the first place. So, she does finally stop, only smiling small and says thanks for forgiving her.

When all five of them gather in the living room to discuss about what makes her reacts to her call like that, she is reluctant to tell them about anything of her past at all. However, she also knows that she has to offer some kind of information in order to retain their trust in her because she knows how precious trust it. Just like how she treasures honesty and loyalty, she does not want to break that trust towards others. So, she offers the only things she thinks would not put them in too much danger, more so than they already are with their ‘side’ job.

“That call comes from one of my past acquaintances. I won’t stop you from tracking it, but just so you know, you won’t find anything. They have some of the top hackers in the world working for them for that. And Jason, remember about me talking that I could avoid your bullets-“

“What bullets?!” Bruce demands.

Luena goes silent. Jason just shrugs, Damian looks conflicted and Alfred glares at Jason. Luena has a mind that perhaps this is her chance in silently making them forget about her past and focus on the bullet incident instead.

“We’ll get to that later, Jason. Luena, continue,” Bruce orders.

‘Well, a woman can hope’ Luena sighs internally. “Anyway, I could dodge those bullets because of muscle memory. Well, when I was seven years old, because my family was poor albeit not too much, being the child that I was, I wanted to help my parents. I wanted to be useful. So, when a stranger came offering me and my friends - we were playing by ourselves at a park – a way to help our parents like a part-time job, I jumped at the chance. For five years, what I did was undergo a gradually taxing physical training which was where I got all the reflexes. Also, for that I was given a lot of money but since they said to me that it would be too suspicious for a child like me to give my parents that much money, I was made to promise to only give some to my parents by saying that I helped my friend’s neighbours in doing little works while hiding the rest of the money.”

“What money? What are you guys talking about?” Barry suddenly barges in and stops besides her, slurping a smoothie with one hand and eating a few pizza pieces rolled into one big fold with another.

“The money she got from her still mysterious past job,” Dick answers as he and Tim jump down from the ceiling before they take seats on the remaining empty couch.

Luena sighs at this development and just watches as Dick hugs both her other brothers and fusses over Jason’s nose while Tim and Damian start to argue between them. Bruce pinches his nose bridge, seemingly stressed with the bickering and Alfred seems to have disappeared into the kitchen to surely prepare some food and drinks from the sounds of kitchenware clattering. Again, silently Luena wishes that Bruce would finally forget about her past as she watches the family interacts. Barry has gone into the kitchen, no doubt in search for more food.

“Are you done with your undercover? Report?” Bruce asks as he looks at Tim and Dick.

“Already saved in the computer,” Tim nods. Dick adds, “Everything’s been solved. So, who’s this?” He asks as he looks at Luena. She sighs and thinks ‘No chance I guess’.

“I thought Jason already told you and your brother about me? Also, we met once in the backyard for a meal,” she says with a raised eyebrow. “Manor. Girl with smoky hands. No threat.” Tim deadpans what she deems is Jason’s previous message to them about her. “And...we don’t really pay attention at you before? I remember there’s someone new, but I was focusing on the others, you know...fawning, admiring,” Dick says sheepishly. Damian huffs, “I do not fawn over anyone.” Jason then smirks and starts to tease the youngest. “Right...” Luena trails off.

Just then, Alfred comes. “Masters, Miss Luena, tea and snacks are served. Please have a meal before I send Miss Luena home.” He quickly adds when Bruce opens his mouth to protest, “Master Bruce, you can continue this another time, another day after Miss Luena can recover from her uncomfortable past flashback. How awful it is for the lady to be interrogated just after experiencing that. You can investigate by yourself if you would like to know so much.”

Bruce glares at his butler, but after a while he sighs and huffs in agreement as he herds all of his sons towards the kitchen. She follows behind them, silently sidling up to Alfred and whispers him thanks. The butler smiles and nods at her before also ushering her towards the kitchen. They all eat in as much peace as can be had when having the boys in one place together despite Alfred and Bruce’s once in a while intervention. Relatively, she could say that it is peaceful for this family. Also, add Barry to that.

After the meal, Alfred has called a cab for her when she refuses to let him gives her a drive home. After all, she has been too much of a burden to them, not that she would say that aloud. Fortunately, since Barry is there to accompany her, the butler relents and instead tells the young man that in no way must Luena be harmed along the way home. She is sure that the butler is afraid for her safety more after the call that she has previously.

As for her hands, they decide that since she no longer has powers, she would just wear gloves to hide the state while outside in public eyes. At the moment, since she has no glove with her and only mittens at her apartment, Bruce has given her a pair of newly-made gloves that he has been trying to modify to dampen her power, but since the power just goes away, the gloves remain made of just simple leather – though not so simple since it is the same material as Batman’s suit. With that, she goes back to her normal life with the addition of gloves as part of her everyday wear.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch date. Some more attack. Luena, Dick and Tim talk about her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might see a different style of paragraphing since I'm trying to adopt the TiP ToP paragraphing-break style: Time, Place, Topic, Person. I usually make long paragraph but it seems that it is seemed as chunky. So, I'm adopting this style.

Luena taps away on the keyboard as she corrects and edits the mistakes made on her colleagues’ texts before she would give them back to the others to be published. Once in a while, she would turn to the dictionary and once in a while she would note down a few things that she finds interesting or are new information to her. This is why she likes being a proofreader and an editor. She likes collecting new knowledge while also doing her hobby which is correcting grammar. Call her a nerd but she is proud with herself and her life.

A loud knocks nearby cause her to look up from her laptop as she stops her furious typing. She is shocked when she sees who has been tapping her table, looking at the man’s knuckles hovering a few inches above her table.

“Mr. Kent. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you’re here. How can I help you?” she asks as she turns around facing him, giving him her full attention. 

Mr. Kent gives her a wave of his hand as he replies, “No need with formalities. Just call me Clark anywhere, it’s okay. After all, Bruce told us that you’ve figured out about...you know, our other jobs. So, I don’t want to hide our friendship if that’s okay with you and may I call you Luena too?”

“Oh, sure. I don’t really mind. I just don’t want to presume is all. You can call me Luena anywhere too. I don’t really mind.”

Clark smiles at her, “Ah. Good, good.” He then nods towards her gloved hands, “So, B told me about your...condition. It’s gone then?”

Luena nods, “It is. They are still not in...normal state, but nothing has happened since yesterday.”

Clark nods, “And you’re okay with that? I heard you’ve been practicing.”

Luena shrugs, “I’m only practicing because I have to, to make sure that I don’t hurt anybody unnecessarily, but yeah, I’m fine. I’m more than fine actually. Even if they are like what they are right now, I’m glad that the...you know, is gone.”

Clark smiles, “I understand. Barry complained to us about your rejection to be invited in our other job before this.” Luena rolls her eyes, making Clark chuckles. “Anyway, I’m going to lunch with Lois later, would you like to come too?”

“Oh, I actually got a text from Barry to have lunch with him at The Delight,” Luena answers.

Clark beams and says, “Oh, that’s great then! Me and Lois are going there too actually. If you would like, we could all have lunch together!”

Luena smiles, “Oh, I don’t mind if that’s okay with you and Lois.”

Clark waves his hands again, “We don’t. After all, the more the merrier! Well then, we’ll see you in the lobby later, okay?”

“Okay, then. I’ll see you both there later,” Luena replies before Clark leaves her to her work.

She saves the works that she has done and sends them back to her colleagues. Once in a while after she has finished like five to six articles, she would check her e-mails and phone for anything that she might have missed. It is when it is her third time checking her e-mails, just before she is about to pack her things up for lunch that she notices a new e-mail appears from Wayne Enterprise. She freezes, finally remembering Bruce coming into the office previously and requesting for her as his interpreter.

Looking at her watch, she has only five minutes before it is lunch. Knowing that her department’s boss would not let her go before it is time - though he does not mind if those under him get back at the most 10 minutes late; she has learned to not question his boss’s weird quirks – she stays and decides to read the e-mail. Reading it, it only contains the details of when, where and other things like dress code and so on and of her agreement to the terms. Since she has no disagreement to that, she sends a swift but polite reply of her agreement back before she closes her laptop and puts it into her backpack, wearing it and goes out just as the clock strikes 12 o’clock.

She greets Mr. Perry on her way down and a few of her close colleagues from other departments. At the lobby, she waits around three minutes before Clark and Lois arrive with the former apologizing for being late. Lois huffs at him and tells Luena that Clark would always be so absorbed in his article and always, it is only her intervention that would break him away from his focus.

Luena laughs at that and Lois talks more about Clark as they walk towards the café while Clark moans behind them as he tries to talk Lois out of embarrassing him more. Luena just listens and laughs sometimes when Clark would retaliate with his own embarrassing stories about Lois. This makes the two bicker among each other as Luena watches them with a smile. They stop at a crossing and waits for the pedestrian red light to turn green. A few metres away, she sees Barry looking at them with a wide grin and waves enthusiastically towards them, making the others look at him although Barry seems to pay no attention to them. If he does, he just does not care what they think of him.

Luena smiles as she waves back. When the light turns green, they finally cross the street. As they cross, Luena tries her hardest to bump against less people that come from the opposite direction. It does not occur to her though that a simple bump does not mean just that, it could mean a knife that is swiftly pulled as it is swiftly plunged into her side as her handbag is snatched away by someone whom, she now knows purposely bump into her. The pain shocks her into standing still in the middle of the crossing as people walk by her, Lois and Clark still are bickering a few steps in front of her, shielding everything from Barry’sight. It takes a few seconds before her brain registers that she could be dying and that she needs help. Also, that Clark is Superman and thus, super hearing.

“Cl-Clark,” she mumbles in pain as she finally falls to the ground in a ball, clutching her side, gritting her teeth hard.

A commotion starts as people veer away from her in shock and Clark comes out towards the small clearing around her. She could not hear what the man is saying at her, what with her focus is on making sure that she does not succumb to unconsciousness, but she guesses that it is her name. She sees everything like a soundless movie as she sees Lois shouts into her phone, sees Barry falling and crying at her left side while Clark kneels on her other side, pushing his hands against her bleeding injury. Clark tries to use his power inconspicuously to freeze her bleeding side, but she grips his hand that is against her injured side and shakes her head.

Who knows what will happen if a villain is actually watching this from afar. She does not want to make it worse for her superhero friends – Clark and Barry – who would love to use their powers, but their identity must be kept secret or things would be in chaos in the future for others. Also, the other superheroes’ identity would also be in jeopardy. She could not- would not be held responsible for that. Unlike during the kryptonite incident where she was given first aid treatment in the Batwing before she was further treated in the Batcave - Barry told her about this - this time, there are no equipment to help her.

It takes a while for the ambulance to arrive, but it seems it is not her time yet to die as the attack seems to have missed major places and she manages to stay awake during the whole process of waiting for help, transporting her to the hospital and then into the surgery room. All in all, she gives herself a weak mental pat on the back before she is finally allowed to close her eyes and lets herself dream.

She could hear voices, but everything is too dark and she could not see anything. The voices are everywhere, loud and sometimes cracked as they speak, but she could not make out what they are saying. She feels floaty and her mind just could not focus no matter how hard she tries to pinpoint from where the voices are coming from and who they belong to. No matter how many times she tries, she keeps failing, so, she finally gives up and lets the voices be as they blanket her from all sides, warming her and making her feel protected. So, she floats and relaxes. She dreams.

A light on her eyelids wakes her up from her slumber, but she closes her eyes as soon as she opens them due to the brightness. Her head feels as though it lies on the softest and plumpest thing she ever feels and so does her body. The blanket covering her also feels soft and she would not even know that there is a blanket if not for her feet and hands being restricted by the materials when she moves to stretch which she regrets immediately when she suddenly feels a sharp pain on her right side. She groans as she immediately loosens her body and puts a hand to her side. She finally opens her eyes slowly.

Like she thought, she is again in the Wayne manor. In fact, from the layout of the room, she is in the same room that she has been given when she stays there after she got her ability. She looks at her palms that have been freed from gloves and still, they are in solid-smoke state. Looking at the clock, it is 12.10 o’clock. Slowly, she pushes the blanket down and her pyjama top up over her injury that has been bandaged perfectly.

Though, seeing as there is little spot of blood still, it could not have been long before she wakes up, maybe two or three days. She doubts it is only a day since her body usually shuts down for more than that when injured or abused more than it could stand. After all, her body is weak. Even when she has high energy output, she has very weak endurance. She sighs, pulling her top down and slowly sits up to lean against the headboard despite the twinge on her side. She wiggles her fingers and toes at least for some stretching. She looks through the little gap between the curtains that hide the balcony. As soon as she sees the sky, though as gloomy as it is in Gotham, she feels her mind and body relax. Connecting with nature always makes her feels better.

“Oh! Hey, you’re up! Alfred, Luena’s up!”

Luena turns to the other side and looks at Dick as the young man listens to the reply that no doubt comes from Alfred before he gets inside the room, leaving the door open. He takes a seat besides the bed and smiles, “So, how do you feel? Need a painkiller?”

Luena smiles and shakes her head, “No need. I-” she stops as her throat feels dry and her voice sounds rough. Dick quickly gets up and offers her a glass of water. She thanks him before continuing, “I don’t need painkillers at the moment. I would rather feel the pain and copes with it when it’s not too much rather than numbs it down.”

Dick grins, “You’ve got gut. Bet that’s from your past job, huh?”

Luena shrugs her left shoulder as she smiles small and answers softly, “Yeah, mostly.”

“Hey, I’m sorry for bringing that up, but I think me and the others need to know. I don’t want another episode like before with Jason and Damian. Now this also happens. I don’t know if it’s related to your past or not, but I think your past plays a role.”

Luena nods slowly, “I’m so sorry for what I did to Jason and Damian.”

Dick shrugs his shoulders, “Nah, it’s okay. They are both tough. That’s nothing compared to bullets and swords. I just don’t want this to get worse.”

Luena nods her head, “I understand.”

“So, how did this happen actually? Is it related to your past? Because Bruce has been berating himself for not being able to dig up on anything about your past. Usually, he would at least know some things by now.” Dick frowns as he seems to be in thought.

Luena sighs before she looks away again towards the window. “Before that, can you open the curtains, please?”

“Sure,” Dick replies as he does so before sitting back on the chair. “So...” he trails off.

Luena looks outside as she nods, “This could be related to my past, although that thought actually did not come into my mind until you suggest it just now. I doubt it is, but there is a small possibility. Also, you should tell Bruce that it could be a long while if he even manages to dig up on anything about my past. Like I said before, the... group...association... whatever it is now has some top-notch hackers and IT experts. I think they have erased everything there is that connects me to them since I back out when I was eighteen years old. That is two years ago which is more than enough time for all of the hands on deck that they have to make sure that everything is erased.”

Dick nods, “I’ll tell him that.”

Luena looks at him and smiles, giving her own nod before looking out again as she continues, “As for my past, I don’t think that it is a great idea for you guys to know because it would put all of you in danger which means that everyone related to you will face it no matter if they are in the ‘suit-up’-”

Luena looks at Dick and makes an air quote gesture.

“-business or not. I really do mean everyone. Like, if they know about Lois, then she would be in danger. If they know about B, then Alfred, Ace, even the animals that Damian adores would be killed. When I say everything, I really do mean it. Including this house and any area related to B. They did not do that to my parents because it was them who threw me away and because I have not done anything to put their identity in jeopardy. Even telling you this did not give anything away about them because I’m just telling a past of mine that has no trace whatsoever.”

“What about your friends?” Dick asks.

Luena tilts her head, “Friends?”

“The others that played with you in the park.”

“Ah. They also got sucked into the group, but they were orphans and the orphanage that they used to live in was filled with kids to the brim. There were more kids missing than those that stay there, so, the guardians hardly care about them and made no reports on them when they went missing. What the staffs cared about was only the wage that they would get from whoever hired them to take care of the place. Also, the place had been burned to the ground due to some children playing with fire. All records of the children that lived there were also burnt. You could only imagine how the guardians would hardly care about that when they didn’t even care about the children. I’m very glad that they were not heartless enough during the fire and actually tried to save the children.”

Dick frowns at that. Luena adds, “Oh, also, when I was thrown away by the association, my ‘friends’ were still working with them. So, I don’t know about them. Money’s a great incentive. I mean, the only reason I’m out was because I finally realized about what I was doing, refused to do their bids and was thrown out by them. The only reason my parents and I are still alive is because they know I would keep it a secret for the sake of my parents.” Luena frowns when a sudden thought occurs to her, “Though...now that I think about it, maybe they think they could use me again. Maybe that’s why they call me again.”

“What about the money you have? You work with them until you’re 18 years old. I bet you would have quite a lot of money which is why it’s weird for you to live in a cheap and small apartment,” Tim is suddenly there, saying it with suspicions in his voice and a deep stare into Luena’s eyes. 

Remembering about what she did with those money makes her embarrassed as she looks down and starts drawing shapes on her blanket. “Well, erm...I didn’t use it for myself if you think I did. I...uh...well...I...give it away?”

Tim and Dick look shocked at her. The latter asks, “Like, all of them?” Luena nods.

“To whom? Your parents?” Tim asks, suspicions back.

Luena shakes her head, “I bank in the ones I got from training my bodies into my parents’ banks little by little to avoid suspicion, but the ones I got from doing the actual job, I gave it away.”

“To whom?” Tim presses on.

“Tim,” Dick tries to stop his brother, but the other only glares back at him. “We need to know. She has been stabbed. Think of what else could happen to her and even us. She’s been here many times. Do you think those shadow people – I create that term by the way – would not know?”

“They should not,” Luena frowns, looking at the blanket before she looks up at the two brothers. “I smashed and burned my old mobile phone after asking a little help from an old acquaintance to get rid of my traces related to the contact number and everything in it. Don’t worry, he’s a top notch hacker and an IT expert and his heart is in the right place. I thought of buying a new phone and a few new numbers, but they might try to find anyone that buys new number, so I’m planning to wait for a while. As for me myself, I looked different than when I was still with them. I was shorter in height and had a late growth spurt after I quit the group. My hair was short too and I used to be fit but now I’m a little bit chubby and this is especially true for my baby cheeks which are where most of the food goes.”

Dick splutters, “Baby cheeks she says.” Tim also covers his mouth and gives a little coughs.

Luena huffs, “They are cute and they are like babies’. I’m calling them baby cheeks and that’s that.” 

That makes the boys laugh out loud for a long time, heaving with mirth, even causing Jason and Damian to come in and when they hear what causes the brothers to laugh, they join in as well. Luena glares at them and mutters her annoyance, but it also warms her heart that these brothers are comfortable enough around her that they could laugh in honesty. Perhaps the trust that they have for her are not broken yet although it might be shaky still.

“Anyway...” Luena says loudly, trailing the word a bit, causing the others to stop snickering and pay attention to her. “My appearance now is different than before. That includes my habits, the way I dress, my preferences in eating and drinking and whatever. I can confidently say that they should not be able to recognize me which is why I told Dick – can I call you Dick? Ok, cool – that the one stabbing me could be from them but I have high doubt about that also. Oh, also, they have others to do their bids. I’m not that significant to them when compared to the others who are still doing it. They-”

Luena suddenly yawns, feeling tired, making the brothers look and nod at each other. Dick gets up from his chair and smiles at Luena, “Sorry for bothering you when you’re still injured. You must be tired after all that talk.”

Luena shakes her head immediately, “It’s fine. I understand.”

Dick nods his head, “You’re a good person Luena. Get some more rest. We’ll wake you up for dinner.”

Luena nods as she lies down slowly and pulls the blanket up under her chin. She drifts off as soon as her head touches the pillow. Tim closes the curtains before they all walk out of the room and Jason closes the door with a silent click.


End file.
